What We Lose and What We Gain
by CrazyFangirl46
Summary: Marina knew her life would be tough. She has a secret that she has hidden for her entire life. If the wrong people found out about it, she would have to run for her life once again. She lost everything six years ago and now has gained a new home and family. She will do whatever it takes to keep them safe, even if it's from herself. However, she never expected to fall in love.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi this is my first One Piece fanfic and I hope you all enjoy it! There will be an OC character who's sorta the main character of the story. I tried my best with writing so please review and comment what you think! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

Fire was burning everywhere. The whole town was ablaze with bright red flames. People were screaming and running for their lives. A young girl watched in horror as her home burned down in front of her. She was born and raised here and now it was all burning down.

_ Why? Why did this happen?_ She thought as tears streamed down her face. The people in this village were good people so why were they being punished? She got separated from her mom when the fires started while trying to find her little brother. Why did he have to be fishing when they showed up? They were supposed to protect the innocent and weak not burn down their homes. She began running through the burning village looking for anyone she knew.

"Mom! Yoshiki! Where are you?" She called. She ended up at the bar her mom owned and worked at, the start of the fires. It was the first building to get set on fire. She let out a cry and fell to her knees crying. "Don't leave me alone." She sobbed.

"Marina!" A younger boy's voice called.

She gasped and stood up. "Yoshiki is that you?" She called out. Two figures came out of the smoke.

"That God you're okay." Her mom said in relief, giving her a quick hug. "We need to get out of here and find somewhere safe. They'll hunt us down."

"Why? What did we do to them? Gramps said they were supposed to protect people not hurt them!" The girl said. The boy, Yoshiki, clutched his mom's leg. "Mom I'm scared."

"I know sweetie I am too. But everything will be alright. Follow me and don't get separated." The mom said as she grabbed each of her children's hands. They managed to get out of the burning village but they were stopped by the people who started the fires. The mom stood in front if her children, trying to shield them.

"Well well well if it isn't the people we were looking for." A big man, the leader said.

"Stay away from my children!" The mother yelled.

"We could care less about you or the boy. We just want the girl." The man said. The girl gasped. Why did they want her? What did she do?

"Why? What did I do?" She asked.

The man laughed. "It's not what you did, but what your mother did." Her mother paled at this. "Please. Don't hurt my children. It's not their fault I fell in love with a pirate."

"Wait what?" Yoshiki asked. "Shut it four eyes." The girl said. "It's not my fault I have glasses, stupid ketchup head." The boy mumbled.

"You should really teach you're children manners." A voice said behind them. Before they could move the second man grabbed Yoshiki and disappeared.

"No!" "Yoshiki!" The mom and the girl yelled.

"Now you have two choices. You give us the girl and we give you the boy back or you refuse to and we take both of them by force. It's your choice." The first man said.

"I'll do it." The girl said before her mom could say anything. "Just leave my brother alone. He doesn't have the same dad as me so he has nothing to do with this."

"No please there has to be another way." The mom pleaded.

"Ohhoho she's a smart little girl. Probably gets that from her mother but still, she's figured out why we're here." The second man said.

"Why are you hunting down children because of their parents? It is not the children's fault they were born. Nor is it even the parent's fault." A thick accented voice said. Everyone turned to look at the newcomer. The mom sighed in relief. "Raul."

"This is madness. You will burn down an entire village and kill many people just to get to one person." Raul said. "Let the boy go." Yoshiki took this time to bite the hand of the man holding him. He screamed out in pain and Yoshiki managed to get away. He ran into his mother's arms.

"You're Raul De Stark." The first man said. "Yes I am. Let these civilians go and fight me if you want a fight."

"Not until we get the girl." The first man said.

"If you must be that way." Raul turned to the mom and she nodded. She bent down to look at the girl and said "We may never see each other again but no matter what happens I will always love you and so will your dad. We're both so proud of you and don't worry about me and Yoshiki. We'll be okay. I promise."

"Mom what are you talking about?" She asked.

"Raul please look after her." The mom said. "With my life." He said. "No don't take her away!" Yoshiki cried out! "No I want to stay!" The girl screamed.

"It is for your own good." Raul said as he grabbed her by the arm and ran off, while her mom grabbed her brother and ran in the opposite direction. "Get the girl and forget about the other two!" The first man yelled to the lower ranking men that just arrived. They were running to the cove that wasn't far from the town. The girl was crying her eyes out. "Mom... Yoshiki." "Do not waste your breath. Keep going." Raul pulled her along. They reached the beach and jumped in a boat. By the time the men got to the beach, the boat was too far out for them to reach. The girl looked back at the island and could see smoke rising up from the burning village. She took a deep breath and screamed. "I'll find you again someday I promise! Mom, Yoshiki! We will see each other again! And I won't forgive you bastards for what you did to my home!" She clenched her fists and whispered. "Or my father."

**Well, what do you guys think? I know its not the best fanfic out there but I tried. I know it's confusing right now but trust me, every question you have or mystery will be answered in time. Just giving you guys a heads up, this will be a Sanji x OC story. **


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I still don't own One Piece

Marina woke up with a gasp. She looked around the room, remembering where she was. She sighed as she looked at the clock. It was only 8:30 in the morning and her roommates and probably the whole crew were still sleeping.

It's that memory again. Why do I keep dreaming about it? She thought. It happened six years ago.

Six years had passed since that fateful night. Six years since she had last seen her mom and brother. She didn't know what happened to them after that night. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't fine any information about them. It's almost as if they disappeared. Or worse, died. She shuddered as she thought about them being dead all this time. But it had also been four and a half years since she had joined the Straw Hat Pirates. Her and Luffy grew up together as children (even though he's seven years older than her) and when he left home he said she could join his crew when she was older. She traveled with Raul for a year and a half training before joining the crew. She was only thirteen when she joined. It was only just days after they defeated Kaido that she meet up with them and Luffy let her join.

Now she was seventeen and a skilled fan wielded, trained by the great Raul de Stark himself, who was on Gold Roger's crew and the greatest knife fighter in the world. Fan fighting and knife fighting are very similar and her mother, who also used the fan as a weapon (although not many people knew) taught her the basics before Raul began to train her. Marina was a decent of a famous fan wielding kouichi and every girl born into the family was taught to fight with fans.

Marina had first meet Raul when he visited their home not too long after Luffy left. He saw Marina practicing with her fans one day and offered to train her. Her mom agreed because she only knew the basics and wanted her daughter to be able to protect herself. Raul sometimes left the island to do some "other business" as he called it. He was away when the Marines came to the island.

No one know to this day why they destroyed the Windmill Village. They came after Ace (who was also Marina's childhood friend) died and it was only the first year of the Straw Hats separation. The papers said it was a bandit attack but only the people who were there knew it was the Marines. Not many people survived the attack and those who did didn't talk in fear of being killed. To this day it still haunts Marina and she won't explain to the Straw Hats exactly what happened.

She stretched and got put of bed quietly, trying not to wake up Nami and Robin. She pulled on a light blue shirt that stopped at her stomach, black shorts and her tall midnight boots. She pulled her dark red hair that went to her shoulder blades back in a ponytail and put on her camouflage bandana. Her mom gave it to her for her tenth birthday. She sighed as she looked down at the family picture of the three of them on her dresser. Raul managed to save it and a few of her personal things from the fire before they left.

"Don't give up hope. We'll find them one day." Robin said as she got up.

Marina smiled. "Sorry did I wake you?"

"No I was already awake." Robin answered.

Marina leaned back on her dresser. "I miss them. I miss everyone." Robin nodded as she understood where Marina was coming from. She also lost her home and friends years ago.

"Luffy is a very determined person. He won't stop until he finds out the truth." Robin said.

"Got that right." Marina snorted. "He's a lot like Yoshiki. Four-eyes was very hard headed. Of course he worshipped the ground Lu walked on." Yoshiki was six years old when Marina last saw him. She found him all alone in the woods when he was two. She took him back to her mom, who was Makino of Luffy's hometown, and he became part of their family. He had messy brown hair and piercing bright blue eyes. They never knew what happened to his parents. Makino assumed he was abandoned but they didn't tell him that.

"Wanna go see if any breakfast is ready?" Marina asked. "I smell something cooking."

"Sanji always starts early." Robin stated. Over the past four and a half years everyone basically stayed the same. The only things that changed were their bounties and ages. They looked almost like they did four and a half years ago but you could tell they were older. Luffy and Usopp were twenty-four, Nami was twenty-five, Zoro and Sanji were twenty-six, Chopper was twenty-two, Robin was thirty-five, Franky was fourth-one, and Brook was ninety-five.

As the girls made their was to the kitchen, the rest of the crew started waking up and slowly making their way out of bed.

"Good morning Sanji." Robin said as she and Marina arrived in the kitchen.

"Morning." Marina said.

"Ah what a beautiful morning for two beautiful ladies!" Sanji said with hearts in his eyes. Marina rolled her eyes at his flirting. When she first joined he didn't flirt with her at all because she was younger but when her chest started getting bigger the compliments started and soon flirting and nosebleeds followed. "Can I have some coffee?" She asked as she sat down.

"Of course my sweet! Would you like anything Robin?" Sanji asked.

"I'll just have tea. Thank you." Robin said as she sat next to Marina.

"Right away!" Sanji said as he prepared their drinks. Soon the rest of the crew came in.

"Sanji meat!" Luffy yelled as he jumped on the table.

"Sit your ass down!" Sanji yelled at him. "You'll get food once the ladies are served!" Luffy pouted as he slowly sat down.

"Why is he so hyper this early?" Nami asked.

"Luffy is always hyper, no matter what time of day it is." Usopp said.

"Man I'm starving." Zoro said. They all sat down at the table and ate breakfast.

**Sorry if it's confusing right now but everything will make sense eventually, I promise. There will be hints of romance here and there for now but as the chapters go on there will be more of it. The main pairing will be Sanji x OC (aka Marina) and there will also be Zoro x Nami, Franky x Robin, and a few others who shall remain nameless for now. :p. Review are always appreciated as well as follows and favorites. Have a great day!**

**Okay I just rewrote some of this chapter because some things are really confusing. To clear things up Marina was born after Sabo "died" and is younger than Ace and Luffy. She grew up with them because she always visited them with Makino, her mom. After Ace left Marina found her little brother (adopted) in the woods. Makino took him in as her own. A year after Ace died and year one if the two year separation of the Straw Hats, the Marines attacked Windmill Village. Marina escaped with Raul and she doesn't know what happened to her mom and brother. She trained for one and a half years with Raul before she joined Luffy's crew at 13. She refuses to say exactly what happened to their home for unknown reasons. This story takes place 6 years after the current storyline. Hope I cleared some things up!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

"What island are we arriving at next?" Brook asked as they finished eating.

"It's a island that has summer all year long." Nami explained. "I think it's called Summer's Island."

"Sounds like a super place." Franky said.

"Does it have beaches?" Marina asked.

"It should since its summer every day." Chopper said.

"Sounds fun! How long til we get there?" Luffy asked.

"About ten minutes." Nami answered.

"How about we have a beach day?" Robin suggested. "It's a nice day out."

"That sounds really nice." Usopp said.

"We need a day to relax." Zoro said.

"You're always sleeping so why do you need a day off?" Sanji asked him.

"I need my rest shitty cook!" Zoro yelled back.

"Wanna go moss head?" Sanji yelled.

"Alright alright alright, calm down. Today's supposed to be a nice day so no fighting." Franky told them.

"Well I'm gonna go get changed." Marina said. "I feel like swimming."

"I'll come with you. I need to get my bikini on." Nami said getting up. "Everyone get changed and we'll stay on the beach and have a relaxing day. And absolutely NO getting in trouble or fighting. Got it?" She said to the boys, mostly looking at Luffy.

"Why are you looking at me?" He asked, confused. Marina laughed as she left the kitchen.

An hour later everyone was in their swim suits and they had docked an isolated beach. They decided to not go to the ports in case the Marines were there. Nami and Robin were sunbathing while Marina went swimming. The boys were playing volleyball.

"Why isn't Marina with Robin and Nami?" Chopper asked. "She usually sunbathes with them."

"Maybe she wanted some time alone." Brook suggested.

"She had another nightmare." Luffy said, hitting the ball at Usopp and hitting him in the head.

"Ow! That hurt!" He yelled.

"Sorry!" Luffy rubbed the back of his head. He always seemed to know if Marina was upset or anything like that. He actually acted like a big brother to her.

"She's been having nightmares alot lately." Sanji said.

"Is it about that night?" Franky asked. He didn't have to explain what that night was. When Marina joined the crew, she told Luffy and everyone what happens to her home and family. She never really got over what happened six years ago. She was having a hard time coping with it. Luffy was furious that the Marines attacked their home but he didn't know why they did. Marina said she didn't know why either. They all could tell she wasn't telling the entire truth but Robin had convinced them that Marina would tell them the truth when she was ready. That was four and a half years ago and Marina still hasn't said everything she knew.

"I'm going to go check up on her." Sanji said as he left the volleyball next and headed to the sea.

"Great now there's an odd number!" Zoro said.

"Chopper, stop being the referee and take Sanji's place!" Luffy yelled.

"If I do then you guys will start fighting again." He sighed. If the game didn't have a referee they would start fighting over everything.

"Nami, Robin want to play?" Usopp yelled over to them. "No thanks!" Nami yelled back.

"I'll also pass." Robin said.

The men sighed as they tried to figure out what to do.

**Sorry this chapter seems really slow and boring. It'll pick up really soon. And I promise there will be some romance in the next chapter and future chapters. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece**

Marina was floating on her back in the ocean. She was a little bit far out but she didn't really care. She was a strong swimmer. She closed her eyes and listened to the waves.

"What are you doing by yourself?" A voice asked above her.

Marina's eyes snapped open as she looked up at the blonde cook looking down at her. "What does it look like I'm doing?" She sassed him while smiling. Marina was known for her sassy attitude, hence her nickname, Sharptongued Marina.

Sanji smirked. "You're floating by yourself while everyone else is having fun on the beach."

Marina sat up, her toes barely not quite reaching the sand. "So? I like swimming and floating. It relaxes me. Helps me think."

Sanji looked at her face closely. _She's hiding something._ He thought. _It's_ _tearing her apart inside but she keeps her problems to herself. Why?_ "Well I can't have a beautiful lady like yourself be all alone on this beautiful day. I'll swim with you." He told her.

Marina smiled at him. "Thanks." She was starting to get lonely swimming by herself.

"Such a beautiful smile!" Sanji cried with hearts in his eyes.

Marina just rolled her eyes. She had gotten used to his flirting and secretly like it when he flirted with her. Even though he flirts with every women, it made she feel special.

"Hey what's that?" Sanji asked pointing behind her. Marina turned around and saw he was pointing at something shiny behind her in the water.

"I don't know. Let's find out." She took a deep breath and went under the water.

"Wait!" Sanji yelled and went after her.

Marina opened her eyes under the water and swan toward the spot. Sanji swam next to her. They reached a small bed of coral where an open clam was sitting with a big white pearl on it. Marina's eyes widened when she saw it. _It's so pretty._ She thought. She went to pick it up when an eel swan out from in the coral bed and was directly in front of Marina. Sanji quickly pulled her away from it and she screamed when she was suddenly yanked backwards. Marina clutched her throat because she took in a lot of sea water when Sanji pulled her back. Sanji saw her grabbing her throat and pulled her to the surface. They both were gasping for their breaths when they came back up.

"Damn eel." Marina said between breaths. "I would have gotten that pearl if it wasn't there."

"I'll get it later for you." Sanji said as he patted her back while she coughed up sea water. "Sorry for pulling you back so quickly."

Marina waved her hand. "It's alright. I'd rather drink sea water than be stung by an eel." They started to make their back to shore. "Don't go back for it. I don't want you getting hurt by the eel."

Sanji smiled at her. "If my princess wants something I'll gladly risk my life for you." Marina walked faster as they reached the sand. Sanji was confused why she was trying to get away from him. He thought he heard her mumble under her breath something like "Don't throw away your life for me." He wondered what she meant by it.

"There you guys are!" Luffy yelled when they got back. "Nami said we're going to go exploring!"

"I said we're picking up supplies in town not exploring." Nami told Luffy.

"Marina do you think you could get disguises ready for us?" Robin asked. "We'll all go into town for except you and Brook." "We're on guarding duty." Brook told her.

Marina nodded. "You got it. Creating disguises is my speciality." Marina was the crew's official spy. She could easily disguise herself or anyone else to look like a whole different person. Marina was especially good at getting information from people without them even knowing it. She helped the crew disguise themselves when they went into towns so they wouldn't be recognized. So far Marina's disguises worked perfectly. No one has realized they were the Straw Hats unless they reveled who they were.

"Do we need the usual supplies?" Franky asked Nami as she was writing down lists for everyone.

"For the most part yes but there's a couple of new items here and there."

"I'll start getting those disguises ready. They should be ready after lunch." Marina walked toward the ship to start preparing.

"I'll start getting lunch ready." Sanji said as he followed Marina to the ship.

"Is it just me or is Sanji acting differently with Marina?" Usopp asked.

"What do you mean by that?" Chopper asked him.

"He does act differently towards her than other girls." Zoro commented. "Wonder why?"

"What are you guys talking about? How's he asking differently?" Luffy asked, confused by what they were saying. Franky shook his head. "We'll tell you when you're older. You're too young to understand how _super_ love can be."

"Don't you think you're exaggerating a little bit?" Nami asked him.

"Who said anything about love?" Luffy tilted his head to the side. Robin looked toward the ship and smiled.

**Sorry I've haven't been uploading quickly but I've been extremely busy with school and work and I'm taking a class on weekends for the SATs. My goal is to try and upload a new chapter at least once a week but I don't know if that'll go over well. I have the first 20 chapters written but I'm going back and editing them a lot. Thank you so much to the people who have reviewed or favorited the story! It really means a lot to me. :) **

**Oh and here's something my one friend says alot and goes with this chapter: Secrets secrets are no fun unless you share them with everyone. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I will never own One Piece**

After lunch was made and eaten, the crew went into town while Marina and Brook stayed behind. Marina was reading while Brook was practicing a new song on his violin. Marina put her book down and sighed.

"What's the matter, Marina?" Brook asked as he put his violin down.

"It's just that my brother would have liked that pearl. He liked to collect things like that." She looked out at the sea, thinking about her family. "It was around this time of the year that the Marines attacked our home."

"Is that why you keep thinking about them?" Brook put his violin down. Marina just nodded.

"Don't give up hope." Brook told her. "We will find them. I know we will. They are alive and are looking for you too."

Marina looked at him. "You think so?"

"Of course I do. I know I will see Laboon again one day and you will see your mother and brother again." Brook told her. "And besides that, you do have a wanted poster out there. 'Sharptongued Marina, worth 150,00,00 berries. They'll find you if you don't find them."

"That actually made me feel a lot better. You're good with advice." She said.

"I'm almost one hundred years old. I know a thing or too." Brook went back to playing his violin. Marina looked at him from the corner of her eye. She was waiting for a 'skull joke' but it never came. She went back to her book when Brook suddenly said. "Of course I am a skeleton so I really can't die! Skull joke!"

"I knew it!" Marina screamed while throwing her book up in the air.

Franky came up the ramp with a few bags in his hands as Brook was laughing. "Having fun?"

Marina was shaking her head but laughing at Brook' s horrible joke. "Yeah we are."

"Did you get everything?" Brook asked.

"Mostly yeah. Sanji said he had to get something else and told me to come back. Said I didn't need to wait for him." Franky said as he put the bags down.

"Wonder what he's up to." Marina wondered.

"No idea." Franky shrugged. Everyone else soon came back, but Sanji still didn't return.

"Did he run into trouble?" Usopp asked.

"Probably got lost." Zoro said.

"No you get lost." Nami said as Sanji came up the ramp. "Where'd you go?" Chopped asked him.

"And why are you soaking wet?" Robin asked.

"I forgot something." Sanji said as he went over to Marina and held out his hand. "For you mademoiselle." Marina gasped as he opened his hand and held out the pearl to her.

"You went back to get it? Why?" She asked.

"You wanted it so I got it for you." He shrugged. "No big deal."

She gently took it out of his hand. "Thank you."

Sanji got hearts in his eyes and danced around the deck saying something about 'anything for my princess' or something like that.

"Wow that's big!" Nami said looking down at it. "Can I have it?"

"No!" Marina said, pulling it back. "It's mine!" She stuck out her tongue at Nami.

"I almost forgot how much alike Marina and Luffy are." Robin chuckled.

"Well they did grow up together so Luffy probably rubbed off some traits to Marina." Franky said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he did." Robin sat down in her chair and began to read.

"You seem to be in a better mood." Luffy said as he sat down at the end of her lounge chair.

"Guess I am, Lu." Marina said as she kicked him off the chair.

"Ouch!" He yelled as he hit the deck. "That hurt!"

"You'll get over it." She told him. Luffy make a face at her.

"Hey I heard that tonight there's gonna be a big party in town with fireworks at midnight. We should go." Usopp said.

"Let's go!" Luffy started jumping up and down. "It'll be fun!"

"Why do you love parties so much? We're always having them. Don't you get tired of it?" Nami asked him. "Shanks and his crew always had parties and I liked their parties so I want to have parties too." Luffy said.

"That makes no sense." Zoro said. He sat down under Nami's miken trees to take a nap.

"Good thing Robin and I bought new outfits then!" Nami said. "We got you something too, Marina." Nami looked over at Marina who was staring intensely at Luffy's head for some odd reason, clutching her book tightly in her hands.

"Marina? Are you okay?" Chopper asked. He gently poked her shoulder. Marina snapped her head toward him and looked at him with a confused face. "Sorry what was that?" She asked. "I kinda spaced out."

"Nami and Robin bought you new clothes while they were out." Sanji explained.

"Oh thanks." Marina smiled. Luffy grabbed Marina's hand and pulled her up from her chair. "C'mon! Let's go do something fun!" He yelled as he dragged her away.

"What was that about?" Usopp asked.

"I have no idea. She's hard to understand sometimes." Nami sighed as she walked over to Zoro to wake him up. "Zoro bring my bags to the girls' cabin." She kicked him in the ribs. "Ow!" He yelled as he woke up. "I don't wanna carry your stupid bags!" And they began fighting over whether or not Zoro would carry the bags.

Robin looked over in the direction where Luffy dragged Marina away.

"What are you thinking about?" Franky asked her as he walked over to where she was sitting.

Robin shook her head. "It's nothing important right now." But in her mind, a theory was forming.

**Hope you all enjoy this chapter! A big thank you again to everyone who's reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following this story! It really means alot to me. I really want to know what everyone thinks of the story so far so please review. There was a little romance in this chapter if you squint but there will be more romance in the next chapter I promise. And what's Robin thinking about? Has she discovered something about Marina? You will find out something big about Marina's past in the next chapter. It may not seem big at first but as the story progresses you'll realize it's pretty big. **

**Have a nice day!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry its taken me so long to upload this chapter. I write my stories on an app on my Kindle Fire and then I usually publish it from there but now when I hit the submit button it wont let me submit the chapter. So now I had to email it to myself on my laptop and then copy and paste the story and publish it from my laptop. Its a pain because all of my stories are on my Kindle Fire and I don't want to have to retype everything on my laptop. Sorry about the delay and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece**

Marina finally managed to get away from Luffy after he dragged her away earlier. He wanted Marina to be a lookout while he tried to steal some meat from the kitchen. (He wasn't able to snag any.) She walked into the room she shared with Robin and Nami a little while later.  
>"Hey." She said to Robin and Nami as she shut the door. "What's the plan for tonight?"<br>"Just have a good time." Nami said as she finished putting an earring in. "We got you a new dress while we were in town."  
>"I believe it will suit you nicely." Robin told her as she held up the dress. It was a light blue sleeveless dress that went down to Marina's ankles. There were midnight blue roses printed on it with a midnight blue belt that went around the middle of the dress.<br>"Wow." Was all she said. "It's beautiful."  
>"Let's get you ready." Robin said as Marina took the dress from her. Her and Nami had just finished getting changed. Robin wore a light purple strapless dress that went down to her thighs while Nami wore a dark orange dress that had mid-length sleeves and also went to her thighs. Both girls had let their hair down for the night.<p>

Eventually the girls were ready and stepped out of their room and went on deck, where the men were waiting for them. By the time everyone was ready the sun had been set for a few hours.  
>"How long does it take for you three to get ready?" Zoro asked.<br>"We have to look our best." Was all Nami said.  
>"Is everyone ready?" Chopper asked.<br>"Almost. Marina had to go back and get her shoes." Robin answered.  
>"Such beautiful ladies!" Sanji cried, dancing in a circle. "Sorry for keeping you guys waiting." Marina called as she ran up the stairs. Her dark red hair was falling out of the twist she put it up in.<br>"Took you long enough." Luffy pouted.  
>"Oh shut it." Marina punched him in the arm. "Lets party!"<p>

The town was lit up with lights and music was playing throughout the town. Little booths had been set up all over for people to enjoy. Brook went off to play with the band.  
>"It's so beautiful." Marina said.<br>"I'm going to go check out the booths." Nami said as she and Zoro walked off. Robin and Franky had already left to go explore the town.  
>"Oh boy meat!" Luffy yelled as he saw a meat stand. Chopper and Usopp went after him to make sure he didn't get into any trouble.<br>"Guess it's just you and me." Marina turned to Sanji. "Guess so." He took a drag of his cigarette. "Let's see what's around town." He suggested.  
>"Okay." Marina agreed and began walking. After awhile they arrived at a booth with different kinds of drinks. "Want something to drink?" Marina asked.<br>"Sure. I'll pay." Sanji said.  
>"No it's okay I'll pay for my own." Marina insisted.<br>"A gentleman never lets a lady pay." Sanji replied. The lady who owned the booth laughed.  
>"My aren't you two a cute couple." She smiled at them. "We're not dating!" Marina blushed at this. Sanji, on the other hand, was overjoyed at the thought. "A cute couple!"<br>"Two waters please." Marina mumbled as her face matched her hair color. "Here you go." The lady said. "Enjoy your night." They paid and went to explore some more.  
>It was later on that night before the fireworks were about to start. The Straw Hats had agreed to meet up at the beach to watch them. Sanji and Marina were the first to arrive.<br>"Nice night for fireworks." Sanji said.  
>"Yeah. It's warm." Marina sat down. "It's peaceful and quiet. I like it." She laid on her back and looked at the stars. Sanji looked over at her as he sat down next to her. She was gazing up at the stars. "Oh look!" She pointed at the sky. "There's Orion's Belt!" Sanji looked up at the stars she was pointing at.<br>"Hey you're right. Oh there's the North Star!" He said.  
>"I didn't know you knew the names of stars, Sanji." Marina said.<br>"Yeah, Zeff taught me when I was a kid." Sanji put out his cigarette. "I know them all by heart."  
>"Same here." Marina smiled at him. "My mom taught them to me and my dad taught them to her."<br>"What was he like? Your dad?" Sanji asked. He never heard Marina talk about him. She never even mentioned her dad up until now.  
>"I don't know. Never met him." She mumbled. Sanji could tell she didn't want to talk about it.<br>"I never knew my dad either." He said. "It was just me and my mom until she got sick and died."  
>"I'm sorry." Maria said. "I didn't know."<br>"It's okay." He reassured her. "She loved to cook. That why I love cooking so much. After she died I went to work in a restaurant to keep her memory alive. Every time I'm in a kitchen I'm reminded of her. It's like she's there with me." Marina looked at him.  
>"That's why you're so passionate about cooking." Sanji looked over at her. "I never knew." She said.<br>"You learn something new everyday." Sanji told her. Marina was quiet for a few minutes before she said. "Yeah. I guess I do."  
>"Hey!" Luffy yelled to them as he ran over. "Did the fireworks start yet?" He slide in the sand next to them.<br>"Watch it!" Marina yelled at him as sand flew in her face.  
>"Oye watch where your going! You almost hurt Marina!" Sanji yelled at him.<br>"Sorry!" Luffy said.  
>"Lets enjoy the show." Franky said as the fireworks started.<p>

**Did anyone get the hint? If you did keep it in the back of your mind because comes up again and it plays a bigger part in Marina's life later on. Reviews are always appreciated as well as follows and favorites. See you all next time!**


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